Best of Enemies Hot Docs 2015 Canadian Premiere GAT PR Press Summary
Interviews Completed: April 16
National Post Interviewer: Calum Marsh Interviewed: Robert Gordon
April 24
NOW Interviewer: Susan Cole Interviewed: Morgan Neville
Next Projection Interviewer: Jacqueline Valencia
Toronto Film Scene Interviewer: Will Brownridge
Torontoist Interviewer: Will Sloan
Dorkshelf Interviewer: Jason Gorber
Monocle Interviewer: Christopher Frey
CHCH The Watchlist Interviewer: Evan Arppe CBC q Interviewer: Shad
Hot Docs Videographer
Quill & Quire Interviewer: Alex Huls Interviewed: Morgan Neville
Metro News/Strictly Docs Interviewer: Steve Gow
April 25
Morgan Neville on cultural fallout of the hostile Buckley-‐Vidal debates By; Shad | April 30, 2015 LISTEN: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Q/ID/2665630439/ WATCH: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/q/ID/2665986229/
Doc Filmmaker Morgan Neville The Oscar-‐winning documentary filmmaker (20 Feet from Stardom) joins Shad to discuss his newest doc, "Best of Enemies". He tells Shad about his fascination with the arch-‐nemeses Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr, their theatrical vitriol, and how they contributed to today's polarized political climate.
Best of Enemies, ‘articulated by two iconic wordsmiths': When the culture wars were worth fighting By: Calum Marsh | April 23, 2015 http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/best-‐of-‐enemies-‐when-‐the-‐culture-‐ wars-‐were-‐worth-‐fighting In early August 1968, in the middle of the
Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Gore Vidal sat down with William F. Buckley to talk about politics on TV. The idea was to host a lively debate: two eloquent, informed intellectuals, divided on partisan issues, would discuss the platforms of the presidential nominees. What the network didn’t anticipate was the vigor of their chosen conversationalists — a vigor that would transform the expected bout of sparring into philosophical warfare. And what nobody could have anticipated was how popular the broadcast would turn out to be. Over the course of the month, millions were held rapt by Vidal and Buckley’s nearly half-‐dozen debates. ABC’s once dismal ratings, in an epochal boon, were instantly invigorated. The cliche here rings true: television would never be the same again. Robert Gordon was in Memphis when a friend tracked down a bootleg copy of the Vidal-‐Buckley debates. He screened the recording at a local art gallery, where it drew a full house. “Everyone stayed afterward to talk about it,” Gordon says by phone, “until it got so late that the guards had to close the whole place down.” For Gordon, the friction on display between Vidal and Buckley, between left and right, had an unavoidable contemporary echo. “I immediately saw in it the story of our present cultural divide,” he says. “It was the culture wars, articulated by two iconic wordsmiths.” So he decided to turn the debates into a feature film. “I called Morgan Neville,” he says, the Academy Award-‐winning director of 20 Feet from Stardom and Gordon’s longtime collaborator, and insisted that he watch the raw tapes. Neville was excited, and revealed a personal connection: he’d been Vidal’s fact-‐checker at The Nation. (It was, he said, the worst job he
ever had. Vidal did not appreciate “being told he’d got details wrong.”) It was important for Gordon that Best of Enemies, as the documentary came to be known, would address “the disappearance of the public intellectual” in contemporary American life. “The change in the televisual climate,” Gordon says, has brought us “from the knowledgeable, authoritative pursuit of information” to merely “the shouting of a hollow screed.” Vidal, already a revered novelist, essayist and critic long before he became any sort of public figure, brought his intelligence and wit to bear on the live TV debate format. Today, media personalities are trained the other way around: a TV-‐ready “image,” to invoke a notion Vidal abhorred, is valued considerably more than any literary pedigree. “The change in the televisual climate,” Gordon says, has brought us “from the knowledgeable, authoritative pursuit of information” to merely “the shouting of a hollow screed.” “People today go to pundit school,” Gordon says. “They learn how to be on TV as a pundit, but they don’t have any substance. Intelligence has been replaced by volume.” And as a consequence debate has devolved into bickering. “Contemporary debate on television is just a variation of professional wrestling. It’s done to raise the audience’s ire. By provoking anger in the audience the pundits feel that they’ve succeeded.” Gordon speaks with contempt for what he calls “search-‐engine culture”: the ease with which the uninformed can source insubstantial (and often unsubstantiated) talking points in order to bolster an otherwise tenuous argument. Today it seems that facts, he says, “are mutable,” bleeding into opinion. “I believe it was Moynihan,” he reflects, “who said that people are entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts.” It hardly seems that way any longer. “We’ve entered a dangerous time where fiction has replaced fact. That’s the scariest thing of all.” And the last time we boasted an intellectual of the old school who enjoyed any kind of mainstream popularity? Perhaps Christopher Hitchens — who happens to appear in the film, interviewed before his death. For Gordon, Hitchens represented an ideal modern commentator, and also one whose political values rendered him something of a compromise between the poles of Buckley and Vidal. “When I thought about who could take these two positions today,” Gordon says, “the best answer I could come up with was Christopher Hitchens versus Christopher Hitchens.” With his death to cancer it may be that we lost the final vestige of an old form of debate. What we need, Gordon says, are intellectuals impressive for “the range and depth of subject matter they have at their fingertips.” People like Vidal and Buckley “speak with real authority” on whatever topic happens to be open to discussion, and those privileged to listen receive the benefit of that wisdom and its counterpoints. One of the most surprising things about Best of Enemies is how exhilarating its central debates still seem — not only rigorously intelligent and fascinating as objects of study, but exciting as prime-‐time TV. Gordon wishes the TV executives would glean the same lesson. “My naive dream for this film,” Gordon says, “is that television networks will once again trust their audiences and allow authoritative intellectual debate and discussion.” He’s quick to emphasize the “naive.” Still, the dream is a tantalizing one. “Wouldn’t you just love it,” he concludes, “if you just tuned into TV and learned something?” With people like Vidal and Buckley on air we no doubt would. Best of Enemies screens at Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival April 24 and April 26. Reposted: http://www.24news.ca/entertainment/125360-‐best-‐of-‐enemies-‐articulated-‐by-‐two-‐iconic-‐ wordsmiths-‐when-‐the-‐culture-‐wars-‐were-‐worth-‐fighting
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS POLITICAL CONVERSATION ANYMORE? By: Susan G. Cole | April 24, 2015 https://nowtoronto.com/movies/hot-‐docs-‐2015/is-‐there-‐such-‐a-‐thing-‐as-‐political-‐ conversation-‐any/ Best Of Enemies director wonders if we’ll ever again see anything like William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal Morgan Neville says he wants to start a conversation. That’s why he and his partner, Robert Gordon, made Best Of Enemies, the Hot Docs entry about the famous TV debates between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal recorded live during the 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions. “We don’t have those conversations any more,” says the Oscar-‐winning director of 20 Feet From Stardom, in Toronto for the screening. “On Fox TV, they’ll pull together three panelists, and if one of them gives something close to a 60-‐second answer, someone starts yelling in their ear to get off that topic. He says Google isn’t helping by keeping track of online users’ interests and tastes. “If you’re looking for information, they’ll only give something that agrees with whatever you want to hear.” Neville, whose filmography is heavily weighted towards music docs, says making a movie about media and politics wound up being not that much different from making a movie about musicians. Best Of Enemies includes interview with the debaters’ biographers and with media historians, who discuss the rise of televisionthe rise of television, but Neville says it’s structured as a musical. “We just thought of the debates as songs.” Best Of Enemies screens tonight, 7 pm, at TIFF1, and Sunday (April 26), 3:15, at Isabel Bader
Torontoist –April 24 –“I’ll Sock You in the Goddamn Face By: Will Sloan | April 24, 2015 http://torontoist.com/2015/04/ill-‐sock-‐you-‐in-‐the-‐goddamn-‐face-‐a-‐new-‐documentary-‐shows-‐how-‐a-‐move-‐of-‐ network-‐desperation-‐cemented-‐the-‐legacies-‐of-‐william-‐f-‐buckley-‐and-‐gore-‐vidal/
A New Documentary Shows How ABC Network Desperation Helped Cement the Legacies of William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal. In 1968, the struggling ABC news division hit upon a cost-‐effective way to compete with NBC and CBS’s exhaustive coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions: hire ideological opposites William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal for a series of televised debates. The conservative National Review founder and Firing Line host Buckley squared off against the liberal essayist/novelist/Wildean imp Vidal for a master class in tetchiness, passive-‐aggressiveness: in the unforgettable climax, Vidal called Buckley a “crypto-‐Nazi,” and Buckley responded, “Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-‐Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face.” Though hardly the height of their careers, the debates would become a significant part of the two public intellectuals’ legacies. Best of Enemies, screening tonight and Sunday at Hot Docs, chronicles Buckley and Vidal’s real-‐life animosity, which continued in magazines, on television, and in the courts for years to come (Vidal, who died in 2012, signed his 2008 Buckley obit “RIP WFB – in hell”). It shows how the two men’s similarities (east coast intellectuals and canny self-‐promoters with an instinctive understanding of television, but who couldn’t parlay their fame into political careers) were nearly as strong as their differences. It contextualizes the debates within 1968 America – when Vietnam, race riots, police brutality, and “law and order” were the key election issues. And it shows how the broadcasts would anticipate the partisan debate format that would come to dominate cable news.
In advance of the film’s Toronto premiere, we spoke to co-‐director Morgan Neville (director of the Oscar-‐ winning Twenty Feet from Stardom, who collaborated on Best of Enemies with Robert Bordon), about Vidal, Buckley, and the mark the debates left on both men. Torontoist: I was excited to learn that you’d actually fact-‐checked Gore Vidal early in your career. I assume he was hard to work with? Morgan Neville: He was horrible. [Laughs] The real story was, I got an internship at The Nationmagazine right out of college in 1989, and Gore was writing essays for The Nation. They assigned me to be Gore’s fact-‐checker, and this is before the Internet—he was living in Ravello, Italy, and I had to fact-‐check these articles and call him on the phone and tell him he’d gotten very small facts wrong. And… I’d pull the phone away from my ear, and… he did not like being told he’d gotten anything wrong. Never liked being contradicted. Do you sense this attitude increased over the years? I don’t know if it increased. He’d had that in him forever. It’s interesting, because Buckley liked to surround himself with people he disagreed with. In his spare time, when not on TV, he lived in New York, and he and his wife Pat Buckley had a very social house. She was sort-‐of a famous New York society lady, had a lot of gay friends, and they had a lot of liberal friends. Buckley told somebody, “Don’t hang out with the conservatives— they’re boring. Hang out with the liberals, they’re more interesting.” I could never see Gore doing that: “Oh, I’m going to hang out with conservatives because I’ll have livelier dinner conversation.” In a way, I think Buckley in real life was a much more tolerant person. You would never use the words “tolerant” and “Gore Vidal” in the same sentence. Because these are two very divisive personalities, I think a lot of people coming to this movie are going to come in sympathizing with one or the other. Did you go into the project sympathizing with one in particular? Well, I knew Gore way more, and I’d worked at The Nation, and I’m a liberal—there was all that. One thing we decided very early on was, this is not about the arguments, and who’s right and who’s wrong—it’s about how we argue. That’s the big point we wanted to make, so we didn’t want people to say, “Oh, this is a film for liberals, conservatives are going to hate it,” or vice versa. I think we tried to make it a film that people of all political persuasions could see. They can think different people did better at different times, but we wanted them to come out with a common set of questions about media, public debate, and public intellectualism. Robert [Gordon] and I both started in journalism, and Robert’s written a lot of books, but I think we both believe in the power of media—that media can do great, positive things. We take it for granted and think of media as a kind-‐of neutral force when, in fact, it can be a very corrosive force. Buckley, to me, was the revelation. I still don’t agree with Buckley at all, but he was a much more complex person than I expected. He would go and have a very vituperative conversation on Firing Line with someone, and as soon as they were done he’d say, “Oh, do you want to go and get a cocktail?” You get the sense that Buckley loved the theatre of it more. Really, I think Buckley’s first love is debate, and debate is a game. The actual ideas are less important than the sport of it. I think I went into the movie with a certain amount of nostalgia for “the Golden Age of Public Intellectuals,” but the movie makes it clear that it’s a very short leap from the Vidal/Buckley debates and the current punditocracy. The movie is less romantic about the debates than I expected. What’s interesting is, Buckley had a TV show for 33 years. We watched a lot of them. He and Vidal had such a TV presence, and for the most part, they were the kind of public intellectuals you’d want on TV. I think what’s interesting about these debates is, it’s not them at their finest hour; it’s them letting their hatred get the better of their intelligence. It was something that brought out the worst in them. On the one hand, they thought the other was dangerous and completely wrong for the country. On a deeper level, because they were so evenly matched and came from such similar backgrounds, they thought the other could identify their own insecurities and expose them. I think they thought the other person could see into them a bit. Why do you think Vidal kept watching those debates obsessively, even towards the end of his life?
Because I think he felt like he’d won. I think he felt he went in there to tear Buckley down, and he felt like he did. He felt he’d made Buckley look like a fool on national TV—that was Vidal’s takeaway. For him, that was a great accomplishment. He seemed to have the attitude that in the “Listen, you queer…” moment, he’d revealed the real Buckley. Do you think there’s any truth to that? He goaded Buckley endlessly, and Buckley finally lost it. By rules of debate, if you lose it, you’ve lost the debate. But just from having talked to a lot of people around Buckley, and knowing the depth of Buckley’s shame about it, I don’t think that was the real Buckley that Gore exposed. I mean, I think Buckley could have some very backwards opinions about all kinds of things, and certainly sexuality is one of them. I think Buckley was not an angry person like that—Buckley just had some very retrograde political opinions about sex and race and other things. The “queer” part of it, I don’t think that’s what Gore cared about so much as Buckley’s anger being the thing he was happiest to expose. But I don’t think that anger was a true representation of who Buckley was. Buckley was not an angry person; Gore was actually a tremendously angry person his entire life, even more so at the end. We interviewed Gore for the film. It was one of the first things we did. We went to his house in the Hollywood Hills, and it was about a year-‐and-‐a-‐half, two years before he died. Gore… I mean, he agreed to do it, because you don’t turn down sex or appearing on television, I guess. But talking about Buckley was his least favourite thing. I would have thought that he’d want to revel in it more. Well, it’s one thing if we’d said, “Tell us how terrible Buckley is.” But at that point, he didn’t even want to say Buckley’s name. He accused us of being “Buckeyites,” and we were just trying to say, “Well, Buckley said this, why did you react this way?” We were just trying to pick apart what happened at the debates. To him, anything other than, “You were brilliant, Buckley was a fool” was basically antagonizing to him. That surprises me, because it’s not like Gore Vidal lived a failed life. No, but he was deeply insecure. At the end, not only was he in chronic pain, but he got very cranky, and some people say he became “a crank.” Some of his opinions became more and more out-‐there. I’m sure you’ve read that article by Christopher Hitchens, “Vidal Loco”… Yeah. I mean, there is some sense that Gore was somebody who was always taking a contrarian point of view, and if you do that long enough, you box yourself into an intellectual corner where you end up having to hold opinions that are kind of absurd. And he held some absurd opinions by the end of his life. There were a number of reasons we decided not to use the interview. The fact that we had Gore and not Buckley felt wrong. How about the people close to them? Given that these were proud men, were the friends and family cooperative with you? Everybody except for one person, who was Buckley’s son, Christopher Buckley—he wouldn’t do an interview with us. And I’m a big fan of Christopher Buckley—he’s a novelist, he wrote Thank You for Smoking and a number of other things—and we asked him three times. At the beginning, middle, and end of the production, we said, “We really want to talk to you. This is not about defending your father, it’s not even about Gore—we just want to make sure your father is a dimensional character.” My only clue as to why he wouldn’t do it is that this was kind of a stain on his father’s legacy, and this is probably the last thing in the world that Buckley would have wanted to talk about. We probably couldn’t have made it when he was alive. Maybe we could have, but it would have been much more difficult. Chris wrote a book about his parents called Losing Mum and Pup, and he talks about the sense of psychological relief he got from throwing the filing cabinet named “Vidal” into the garbage after his father died. I feel like for Chris Buckley, it was like, “We’re done with Vidal.” * Best of Enemies screens at TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 (Fri, Apr 24, 7 p.m.) and at the Isabel Bader Theatre (Sun, Apr 26, 3:15 p.m.)
Robert Fulford: When Buckley fought Vidal By: Robert Fulford | April 17, 2015 http://news.nationalpost.com/full-‐comment/robert-‐fulford-‐when-‐buckley-‐fought-‐ vidal There are special moments in history when unlikely events come together and turn into symbols of their era. Looking back after five decades, it’s clear that this happened in the summer of 1968 when two intellectuals, William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal, took part in a public argument that millions of television viewers found weirdly comic and deeply arresting. It began as an attempt to breathe life into the ABC network’s coverage of the Republican National Convention in Miami and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In those days CBS and NBC battled for first place in national news. ABC was a poor third — and, as people said at the time, if there had been four networks, then ABC would have come fourth. The ABC producers set up a series of 10 debates, five during each convention, between the conservative Buckley and the liberal Vidal. Buckley created the National Reviewmagazine, wrote a newspaper column and chaired a PBS discussion show. Vidal wrote novels, plays, Hollywood scripts and nimble, sometimes piercing essays. Neither admired the other and together they turned out to be combustible. Their famous encounters have been brilliantly recalled in a documentary film, Best of Enemies, directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon. It’s now touring the festival circuit and shows up at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival on April 24 and 26. A newsman introduced the first debate by saying Buckley and Vidal would “help us extract meaning” from the conventions. As it turned out, they did little of that. Vidal spoke mainly of Buckley, and after a while Buckley spoke mainly of Vidal. In the film they both appear to be narcissists, each encouraging the other’s self-‐obsession.
Buckley understood that politics had become a theatrical event. With his Yale-‐ nourished intellect and his luxuriously opulent conversation, he was ready for it. Vidal had a heightened sense of drama and a sharp eye for the conflict that drama demands. Arrogant and self-‐amused, they both thought the occasion called for a supercilious tone. The United States seemed to be falling apart in 1968. Opposition to the Vietnam war reached a new peak. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy had been killed in the last three months. As the Democrats met in Chicago, students fought truncheon-‐ wielding police in streets filled with tear gas. It appeared the cops were rioting but Buckley said they were restrained. He claimed that electing Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic candidate for president, would sentence America to four more years of “asphyxiation at the hands of liberalism.” Vidal said “the young, poor, black” would be against Richard Nixon, who had been nominated in Miami. “You’re going to have a revolution if you don’t give the people what they want.” He delivered that prediction with a certain relish. Vidal came armed with quotations in which Buckley had implied that nuclear weapons could be used against North Vietnam. He did his best to turn Buckley’s defence of the Chicago police into a version of fascism. At that, Buckley exploded. His face contorted with hatred, he spat out his words: “Now listen you queer, you can’t call me a Nazi, or I’ll punch you in the face and you won’t get up.” Queer? Well, Vidal declined to recognize standard sexual categories. In his 1968 comic novel, Myra Breckinridge, he depicted a man who is surgically transformed into a woman and then reverts to becoming a man. The disappearance of rigid rules of sexual conduct were implied in what Vidal wrote and said. He was the prophet of a sexual revolution that had to wait for the 21st century to be realized. Buckley, a traditional Roman Catholic, considered Myra Breckinridge shamefully pornographic, of interest only to “taxonomists of perversion.” In their debates he mentioned it as often as possible to prove Vidal’s crippled moral sense. Studied today, the two debaters seem to be articulating the future of American rhetoric. In their scornful comments you can see the beginning of the unbridgeable chasm that now separates left and right in America. Their rebarbative insults were shocking in 1968 but not today. Their noisy but watchable struggle was the first hint that so-‐called “impartial” television was ending, to be replaced as by armies of predictable conservative and liberal opinion-‐mongers. But if Best of Enemies helps explain the present, it also delivers a last gasp of the past. Buckley and Vidal were patrician intellectuals in speech and attitude. Their way of talking, both passionate and elegant, has since vanished from television and public discourse. National Post
Hot Docs 2015: What documentaries should you see at this year's fest? April 17, 2015 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐what-‐documentaries-‐ should-‐you-‐see-‐at-‐this-‐years-‐fest/article23733711/ Best of Enemies Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville – International Premiere – Country: USA – Length: 87 Minutes Some documentaries are guards against amnesia, visits to important but often vaguely remembered events of long ago that, in the documentarian’s eyes at least, inform the present age. Best of Enemies recounts the story of the series of short television debates, 10 in total, between conservative commentator William F. Buckley and author/liberal Gore Vidal during the 1968 Republican and Democratic national conventions. It’s a densely packed yarn, told using footage from the era, voiceovers (John Lithgow as Vidal, Kelsey Grammer as Buckley) and a plethora of contemporary talking heads (James Wolcott, Sam Tanenhaus, Dick Cavett, Todd Gitlin and the now-‐late Christopher Hitchens among them). Directors Neville and Gordon are less interested in taking sides than in demonstrating how these frequently vicious jousts presaged our current uncivil media wars. Baby boomers are going to find much to like here; however, since neither Vidal, who died in 2012, nor Buckley, who died in 2008, has sustained much purchase on the contemporary popular imagination it’s a prophylactic on engaging a larger audience. – James Adam
Hot Docs 2015 –BEST OF ENEMIES By: Shael Stoleberg | April 24, 2015 http://filmbutton.com/mainpage/?p=17086
Best of Enemies
By: Susan G. Cole | April 22, 2015 https://nowtoronto.com/movies/hot-‐docs-‐2015/best-‐of-‐enemies/ BEST OF ENEMIES (Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville, U.S.). 87 minutes. Rating: NNNN
This account of the 10 incendiary debates between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal during the 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions recalls a time long gone. For one thing, fully 80 per cent of Americans were watching those conventions. No one gets an audience that size these days. For another, there was such a thing as a public intellectual, and lefty Vidal and right-‐winger Buckley, who loathed each other, were among the most fascinating. But they were more alike than you'd think. Both came from the establishment, and both understood profoundly the power of TV at the time. The quality of the debates themselves is not all that high, but the spectacle and the venom are glorious, especially while the cops are rioting in the streets of Chicago. Apr 24, 7 pm, TIFF 1; Apr 26, 3:15 pm, Isabel Bader
Hot Docs 2015: What films you should see at this year's festival By: Jim Slotek | April 18, 2015 http://www.torontosun.com/2015/04/18/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐what-‐films-‐you-‐should-‐ see-‐at-‐this-‐years-‐festival
We look at 13 films ahead of Canada's premiere documentary film festival Okay, so the red carpet scene isn’t as much of a “thing.” But Toronto’s annual Hot Docs Film Festival carries arguably as much impact in the documentary world as TIFF does on the wider cinema scene. Hot Docs is a leading-‐edge intro into the non-‐fiction films people will be talking about through 2015, and is a pretty good predictor of the docs that will be getting Oscar attention. Examples: this year’s nom Virunga and recent-‐vintage Oscar winners like The Cove and Man on Wire. Some 210 documentaries from 44 countries are programmed at 12 different venues, starting with the April 23 opening night premiere of TIG, a profile of the Grammy-‐winning comedian Tig Notaro, whose battle with cancer informed the most inspired comedy of her career. Also heavily anticipated: Documentaries on Mavis Staples (Mavis!) and Nina Simone (What Happened Miss Simone?) Herewith: a sampling of 13 Hot Docs films we previewed. BEST OF ENEMIES: I love and hate (but mostly love) this doc about ABC’s decision to distinguish itself at the 1968 Presidential conventions by having William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal argue nightly. To look back at the acidic wit of these liberal and conservative giants is to mourn the level of punditry today. And what was a brilliant stroke of programming, has suffered genetic drift and is now the political TV staple of nitwits shouting at each other. Reposted: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/04/18/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐what-‐films-‐you-‐should-‐see-‐at-‐this-‐years-‐festival
Review: Best of Enemies By: Patrick Mullen | April 17, 2015 http://povmagazine.com/articles/view/review-‐best-‐of-‐enemies
USA, 87 min. Directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon International Premiere Director Morgan Neville follows his excellent Oscar-‐winning doc Twenty Feet from Stardomwith another solid hit, Best of Enemies. Directed by Neville and Robert Gordon (Johnny Cash’s America), the film puts TV news on the hotseat as they mine the archive of a turning point in pop media history. The time is 1968 and America is on the cusp on change as both political parties rally at their respective conventions and the three TV networks scramble to win the all-‐important ratings game. ABC makes a bold leap by declining to cover the conventions in full and opts to punctuate and summarize the coverage with political commentary by great debaters from both the right and the left. Contemporary punditry in TV is born. The players in this boxing match of intelligence and wordsmithery are two heavyweights. In the left corner sits Gore Vidal—author, provocateur, and bon vivant—and in the right corner sits William F. Buckley, Jr.—editor, moralizer, and all-‐around square. The gloves come off, and TV and politics alike are forever changed. Best of Enemies presents highlights of the well-‐versed grudge match between Vidal and Buckley as the two wage war in a thrilling (and often hilarious) tête-‐à-‐tête. The two truly seem to hate each other as they trade witty barbs, zingers, and bombs. The level of debate seen in Best of Enemies is more intelligent and entertaining than any political commentary that succeeded it, and Neville and Gordon shrewdly find the bitter rivalry between the pundits as a fascinating confrontation between
the clash of ideologies percolating in America. Vidal and Buckley both firmly see in one another the very embodiment of the political philosophy they abhor. The personal, as they say, is political. Best of Enemies shows the bitter feud evolve from a relatively civil trading of ideas and insults to a blowout that plays like a 1960s precursor to The Jerry Springer Show. It’s great entertainment even fifty years later, especially whenever the film cuts to the amusingly awkward interjections by newsman Howard K. Smith as he tries to process the proceedings for the huge mainstream audience at home. When Vidal eggs on Buckley as a “crypto-‐Nazi” and Buckley loses his cool and calls the liberal pundit a queer, you see him grimacing with his pen and hitting back, “I’ll sock you in your goddamn face, and you’ll stay plastered,” Best of Enemies reveals how trash TV was born out of an intellectual debate from two of the medium’s most eloquent broadcasters. These political animals are a hoot. Buckley’s loss of composure defines the film as Best of Enemies reveals how far the medium has come (and fallen). Nowadays, an exchange of “crypto-‐Nazi”/”queer” between two distinguished commentators would send audiences a-‐Twitter and make or break careers with viral force. Social media didn’t exist in the 60s, however, and Best of Enemies shows how the Vidal/Buckley debates/brouhahas tapped into a greater cultural hunger as the content of low-‐level player ABC caught the attention of the popular press around America, inspiring other networks to recreate the same water cooler fodder. Neville and Gordon play the archival footage of Vidal and Buckley amidst a scattering of talking heads from broadcasting and academia that weigh in on the significance of the debates within history and illuminate the characters and egos on either side of the ring. Each boxer has his own corner team— biographers and cut men alike—who take sides with either player, showing both the success and fallout of the debates as the best minds of America’s next generation call the match one way or the other. Best of Enemies digs within the battle that wages between these two minds as it shows how far a personal grudge can take a person away from the very values he or she represents, for the exchange of enlightened debate to serve the country simply became a personal showdown of egos. Follow-‐up footage recounts how Buckley was especially haunted by his on-‐air slip up, essentially defined as a textbook example of a journalism no-‐no, while Vidal equally despised his rival until the very end of his life. Best of Enemies doesn’t let the audience hear from either man directly, for Buckley had passed prior to production while Vidal died during production. (Neville noted at the film’s post-‐screening Q&A that his team interviewed Vidal for the film, but his testimony risked turning the film into a one-‐ side debate and hence was omitted.) Neville and Gordon instead let Vidal and Buckley speak of their rivalry through their diaries. In a smart bit of casting, Best of Enemies has Kelsey Grammar read Buckley’s transcriptions while John Lithgow gives voice to Vidal’s words. Both actors bring their characters to life with fresh dramatic interpretations—the effect is akin to the reading of Marilyn Monroe’s confessions in Liz Garbus’s Love, Marilyn —and lets the contemporary seep into the study of this political showdown. Each man comes to life, for his private thoughts and public words still ring true to the stereotypical divides between the right and the left. The presence of Grammar and Lithgow, finally, underscores how audiences of today don’t quite have a set of rivals to match Vidal and Buckley, although every channel offers a grander circus than the next. Best of Enemies is a great and engrossing case study in media history. Hot Docs 2015 Screenings Fri, Apr 24 7:00 PM -‐ TIFF Bell Lightbox | Sun, Apr 26 3:15 PM -‐ Isabel Bader Theatre
Best of Enemies –Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon By: Kevin Scott | April 30, 2015 http://exclaim.ca/Film/article/best_of_enemies-‐morgan_neville_robert_gordon Given how easy it is to turn on any of the countless news programs and find two pundits from different sides of the aisle screaming over each other about "the issues," it's hard at this point to even imagine a time before the existence of this kind of cacophonous political discourse. In tracing its insidious origins back to a series of televised debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. during the 1968 Democratic and Republic presidential conventions, Best of Enemies manages to be both insightful and scathingly funny in equal measure. Believe it or not, TV networks at that time found a way to be fair and balanced in their coverage without resorting to empty histrionics. Lagging behind NBC and CBS in their election coverage, ABC made a desperate and ultimately influential decision to forego gavel-‐to-‐gavel coverage of the conventions in favour of a debate between Vidal and Buckley. The film goes to great lengths to paint Vidal and Buckley as flip sides of the same prestigious coin: Vidal came from a family of politicians, but followed his writing gifts into a career as a novelist and reputed orator; Buckley was the well-‐educated founder of the political magazine National Review who also possessed an uncanny way with words. If it weren't for the fact that Vidal was an outspoken Democrat and Buckley a staunch conservative, the two might have even been friends. But the lurid pleasure here is in revisiting the two verbose heavyweights in their prime as they clashed in front of a captive national television audience that had never been exposed to the kind of vitriol that's now become commonplace. Against the backdrop of a makeshift ABC studio that's practically falling down around them and a Chicago Democratic convention that escalates into a full-‐scale riot, Buckley and Vidal assail and parry with the kind of barbed wit that's in scarce supply on TV today until things eventually reach a breaking point. Directors Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom) and Robert Gordon are smart to have commentators like Christopher Hitchens establish the context for the debates, but they are also wise enough to know when to allow the electrifying footage speak for itself. The climax of their fracas seems perhaps even more incendiary now, given the current climate of political correctness, but it's the way the media first placed a higher value on theatre rather than actual politics that's had far more damaging reverberations over time.
Hot Docs 2015 Review: Best of Enemies By: William Brownridge | April 23, 2015
http://thetfs.ca/2015/04/23/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐review-‐best-‐of-‐enemies/ In 1968, ABC was desperate for ratings. The network was consistently beaten out by the others and was looking for a unique twist that they could add. With coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions coming up, they decided to hire Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. to argue the issues life on television. The two men shared an intense distaste of each other, and within moments of the first show, they had abandoned the issues and began attacking each other. It was a ratings hit, and the beginning of a brand of television that we’re all too familiar with now. Although reality television is something that has become increasingly popular over the last few decades, it’s obvious that the reasons for that have been around much longer. Best of Enemies takes viewers to the very start of that wave of TV, as watching Vidal and Buckley Jr. seems quite similar to any number of reality TV programs. The only real difference is the fact that Vidal and Buckley Jr. at least began at an intelligent starting point. Best of Enemies follows these live discussion while exploring the background of each participant, and their views on each other. What really should have been a peaceful and intellectual conversation quickly turns into name calling, insults, and speculation. Of course the public ate it up. While it’s fun to watch two intellectuals berate each other, it’s also fascinating to see the divide between the two parties on matters of race, sexuality, and religion. IS BEST OF ENEMIES ESSENTIAL FESTIVAL VIEWING? Don’t let the political nature of this film fool you as it’s more about Vidal and Buckley Jr. butting heads and slinging insults, which is much more entertaining when you think about how intelligent each man is. BEST OF ENEMIES SCREENING TIMES
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Friday, April 24, 2015 – 7:00 pm – TIFF Bell Lightbox
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Sunday, April 26, 2015 – 3:15 pm – Isabel Bader Theatre
Review: What’s 'Next' at this year’s Hot Docs By: Sarah Gopaul | April 22, 2015 http://www.digitaljournal.com/a-‐and-‐e/entertainment/review-‐what-‐s-‐next-‐at-‐this-‐year-‐s-‐hot-‐ docs/article/431363#ixzz3Yupi4FdQ Hot Docs’ “Next” program takes fans behind-‐the-‐scenes to discover little know secrets about pop culture phenomena, all while being creative themselves. By understanding a society’s culture, one can learn a lot about its history and values. The “Next” program at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival reflects on trends, music and the arts, using one form of creativity to explore other modes of creativity. Focusing on contemporary pop culture and looking back at notable moments, events and figures makes this category one of the festival’s most appealing. This year one film revisits a special television exclusive that saved a struggling network, while another features the surprising top-‐ selling genre in literary fiction.
In 1968, ABC News was the lowest ranked amongst the networks. With the approach of the National Democratic and Republican Conventions, they could not claim the perspective of a popular anchor so instead desperate executives sought to host special debates between a couple of well-‐known personalities. Best of Enemies chronicles the venomous, live, unscripted discussions between left-‐wing pundit Gore Vidal and unwavering conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Shocking archival footage and commentators trace the origins of trash-‐talk TV to these volatile sparring sessions. With each subsequent show, it took less time for the conversations to devolve from intellectual discourse to outrageous, personal mudslinging. The documentary explores the mythical origins of each man where neither came from illustrious backgrounds and Vidal’s satire was miles ahead of its time. At the same time, it illustrates how much Buckley and Vidal really feared and loathed each other’s doctrines. ABC first approached Buckley who listed Vidal as the one man he would not want to sit across, which of course compelled executives to recruit the outspoken liberal. The “unconventional convention coverage” was a smash and would forever change the political discourse. One analyst observes that in these debates one must first attack their opponent clinically and rationally, but then he needs to get behind his adversary’s beliefs. This they did skilfully with results that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Hot Docs 2015: Best of Enemies By: Jason Gorber | April 22, 2015
http://dorkshelf.com/2015/04/22/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐best-‐of-‐enemies-‐reviews/
Next Coming on the heels of his Oscar-‐winning 20 Feet From Stardom, Morgan Neville once again shows his extraordinary capacity to tell complicated non-‐fiction tales with a subtlety and a dexterity rarely bettered. Joined by long-‐time collaborator Robert Gordon, the two dive deeply into one of the most profound and influential moments of American political life: the debates between stalwart conservative William F. Buckley and iconoclastic progressive Gore Vidal. Gordon and Neville structure the film like a prize fight, and the intellectual pugilism is as intoxicating as any match between titanic heavyweights. The film excels not only through effective use of vintage footage, but through a series of probing and enlightening interviews that not only shed light on their subjects, but demonstrate the ability from even those champions of one side or the other to find fault in the champion and see the glory in their ostensible opponent. The debates, and the politics, inexorably linked these two together in ways that the film explores at length. Yet it’s the echoes of these very points of contention that still drives political discourse not only in the US but throughout many other democracies. The liberal/conservative divide has rarely been so well presented as almost existentially antithetical, yet their shared, passionate belief in what they both felt to be a country worth fighting for. The film is stellar, the subjects bigger than life, and absolutely one of the best documentaries of the year. Screens: Fri, Apr 24 7:00 PM, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 | Sun, Apr 26 3:15 PM, Isabel Bader Theatre
Hot Docs 2015: Best of Enemies By: C.J. Prince | April 24, 2015
http://waytooindie.com/news/best-‐of-‐enemies-‐hot-‐docs-‐2015/
There’s a cheap tactic documentarians like to lean on sometimes that I call the “pin drop moment”. It happens in talking head documentaries when some sort of major event or piece of information gets dropped on the viewer. To emphasize just howimportant this fact is, the director will cut to various interview subjects sitting silently. The intent is to give off the impression that everyone is stunned into silence over what just transpired on-‐screen (you could hear a pin drop!). In reality, it’s just footage of each talking head probably waiting for the next question to be asked. Cheap manipulation tactics like the pin drop moment are second nature to Best of Enemies co-‐director Morgan Neville, who directed the overrated and poorly directedTwenty Feet From Stardom. In Best of Enemies, directors Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville present a bland, surface level presentation of one of television’s most memorable events: a 10 part debate between National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. and infamous writer Gore Vidal during the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in 1968. Both were highly renowned intellectuals at the time, and both stood at the opposite ends of the aisle. Buckley, a staunch conservative who’s credited with bringing in the Reagan era, found Vidal’s writing pornographic, and Vidal thought Buckley was as valuable as dirt. ABC News aired the debates as a desperate move to improve ratings—they were dead last in the ratings—and it worked, only because the debates turned out to be more of a catfight than a discussion. Neville and Gordon don’t need to do much to entertain; watching Vidal and Buckley tear into each other is glorious to watch. But why do I need this movie when I can just watch the debates on YouTube? Neville and Gordon don’t really add much to the footage itself, other than giving some context and talking about how the debates impacted both men after the fact (Surprise: they never got over it!). This is boring infotainment at its finest, an excuse to give people basic facts (or, as Werner Herzog calls it, “the truth of accountants”) without trying to delve into anything interesting. The only time Best of Enemies suggests something worthwhile is when it argues that the debates signaled the beginning of the end of the golden era of TV news, with arguing pundits replacing objective reporting. But that argument only starts when, and I’m not kidding, the end credits start rolling. There can’t be a clearer sign of bad documentary filmmaking than reducing the most substantive part of your film to nothing more than an afterthought.
Hot Docs: How To Change The World, Best of Enemies, The Wolfpack Reviews By: JACQUELINE VALENCIA | April 19, 2015
http://nextprojection.com/2015/04/19/hot-‐docs-‐change-‐world-‐best-‐enemies-‐wolfpack-‐reviews/ Best of Enemies (2015) Dir. Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville “Networks did they deal in controversy? No! Did they incite controversy? No! [Networks] were the cementers of ideas. Not the disruptors of idea.” During the 1968 U.S. presidential elections, ABC news nationally televised a series of debates between two well-‐respected intellectuals, liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley Jr.. While the events were supposed to be a spirited ground where the two could debate the issues of the day, it often ended up with Vidal and Buckley Jr. figuratively gouging at each other’s reputations. Footage of their debates is impressively restored in the film and sprinkled in with interviews with cultural pundits and people that new the two of them. Directors Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon place the debates front in centre where the audience is treated to the lost art of scholarly debate that is fraught with the possibility of real violence. The tension is palpably felt as Vidal calls Buckley Jr. a “crypto-‐nazi” and Buckley Jr. counter attacks with derogatory words and threats. The debates came at a time when sensationalist television was unheard of. Thus the film makes a compelling comment on the current state of fast moving news and 140-‐character tweet cultural discourse. This film is a media archivist’s and a cultural history fan’s treat.
Hot Docs 2015: Best of Enemies
By: Courtney Small | April 24, 2015
http://cinemaaxis.com/2015/04/24/hot-‐docs-‐2015-‐best-‐of-‐enemies/ In 1968 a rating starved ABC network, looking for a bit of sensationalism, decided to air a series of televised debates between conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and liberal Gore Vidal. It was a desperate attempt to chisel away viewers from stronghold that the likes of NBC and CBS held. Little did the producers know that the candle wick they were about to ignite was actually a stick of dynamite whose explosive reverberations would still be felt 47 years later. In their fascinating documentary, Best of Enemies, directors Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon capture how the heated debates not only mesmerized a nation, but changed the course of television forever. In an age where diverging views are a finger swipe away, and political punditry has become a televised rhetorical sport unto itself, it is easy to forget that life was not always like this. Neville and Gordon’s captivating, and downright entertaining, film shines a light on a time when television was the focal point for informing the nation about important events. Since ABC did not have a star journalist that commanded attention, like Walter Cronkite did for CBS, they resorted to intellectual stunt casting by enlisting Buckley and Vidal to engage in a discourse about the Democratic and Republican conventions. As ABC was unable to afford wall-‐to-‐wall convention coverage, the 90-‐minute segments with the pair was a bold step away from the traditional televised coverage that viewers had come to expect. Bringing highbrow ideology to the average American audience, Buckley and Vidal were an instant hit. Unlike the pundits who pollute the cable television today with their faux angry bluster – when audiences know full well that they will be sharing a coffee and bagels at the craft services table once the segment is over – Buckley and Vidal genuinely detested each other. As if boxers in a televised ring, their verbal punches became increasingly personal and emotionally cut deep. They were the embodiment of the vastly different political views and lifestyles that were dividing America at the time. Buckley was viewed as a revolutionary right wing Christian who championed ideals that Vidal, and openly gay man who fought for the dismantling of both sexual and racial labels, saw as detrimental to America’s evolution. Neville and Gordon achieve something quiet spectacular with Best of Enemies. They make a film that examines the exploitative nature of media, while never succumbing to exploiting their subjects themselves. Providing rich insight into both men, the film portrays Buckley and Vidal as individuals who were keenly aware of the power that television possessed. Neville and Gordon present a world that is vastly different to the one where the style of punditry that Buckley and Vidal gave birth to now exists. It was a time when intellectuals were the real celebrities and carried a real desire to evoke social change through their words. Best of Enemies is an engaging reflection on a crucial time that changed the media landscape. In an era where arguments bring big ratings, but nothing of substance is actually said, the film is a timely eulogy to the death of intellectual discourse. One can only imagine what Buckley and Vidal would have to say about that. Screens Friday, April 24, 7:00 PM, TIFF Bell Lightbox Sunday, April 26, 3:15 PM, Isabel Bader Theatre Tickets can be purchased at the Hot Docs website.
Best of Enemies
By: Sheldon Kirshner | April 20, 2015 http://sheldonkirshner.com/?p=9310 It was 1968 and another U.S. presidential election season was in the offing. With the Republican and Democratic Party conventions coming up, the ABC television network, trailing behind the CBS and NBC networks, needed a compelling media event to increase its audience share. ABC settled on a debate that would pit William F. Buckley, a conservative, against Gore Vidal, a liberal. It was a shot in the dark, but it worked brilliantly, changing the nature of TV. Forty seven years on, the legendary Buckley-‐Vidal debate remains a masterpiece of rhetoric and recrimination. They were supposed to discuss current issues like the war in Vietnam and the racial divide in America, but instead, they vilified each other, espousing radically different visions of America. And being so literate, they did so in elegant and sardonic fashion, prompting moderator Howard K. Smith to describe them as “craftsmen of the English language.” Their classic debate, which unfolded over nine separate nights, is the subject of Best of Enemies, which will be screened at the Canadian International Documentary Festival (Hot Docs). It runs in Toronto from April 23-‐May 3.
Riveting and entertaining, the film focuses its attention on two gifted debaters at the height of their powers. Although they despised each other, they were both from the same patrician Anglo-‐Saxon eastern elite, enunciating their complex sentences in plummy, affective and disdainful tones. Buckley, who had a strong opinion about everything, was the editor of the right-‐wingNational Review magazine, the voice of the American conservative movement. Vidal, the enfant terrible of the American literary scene, was a published novelist and screenwriter who sought a new political and social order in the United States. Buckley regarded Vidal, a gay man, as an apostate who had betrayed his class and a subversive who was undermining America. Vidal considered Buckley an elitist and a paragon of the anti-‐democratic right.
In a stinging riposte, Vidal called the National Review “your little magazine.” Hitting back, Buckley said, “Anything complicated confuses Mr. Vidal.” Landing another blow, Vidal exclaimed, “Buckley is always on the right and always in the wrong.” As they sparred, their verbal firecrackers exploding incandescently, they grinned and grimaced. Although they mocked and interrupted each other constantly and mercilessly, much to the probable delight of ABC, they reached an implicit understanding that they were intellectual equals. The debate reached its ugly climax when, in a particularly heated moment, Vidal accused Buckley of being a “crypto-‐Nazi.” Smarting from Vidal’s below-‐the-‐belt blast, Buckley launched his own fusillade, branding Vidal a “queer” and threatening to punch him in the face. Mortified by their acrimonious exchange, Smith said it had contributed more heat than light, a polite way of saying that the pair had departed from the norms of civility. Subsequently, they continued their lively debate in the pages of Esquire and sued each other. Although Buckley and Vidal are at the center of this fast-‐moving documentary, Best of Enemies features lucid comments from media critics who dissect their debate and and place it in historic perspective.
Hot Docs // Staff Picks: Evan By: Evan Arppe | April 17.2015
http://www.chch.com/hot-‐docs-‐staff-‐picks-‐evan/
NEXT: When ABC News hired arch-‐enemies Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. to cover the 1968 Republican and Democratic National Conventions, their intellectual and personal mudslinging not only revolutionized TV news, but the shape of American political discourse. Directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville. Anyone with an interest in the history of television – and television news specifically – will definitely want to check out Best of Enemies. Co-‐directed by 20 Feet From Stardom director Morgan Neville and Grammy Award-‐ winning writer/filmmaker Robert Gordon, the film focuses on the infamous televised debates between Gore Vidal and Will F. Buckley Jr. during the 1968 Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Sound a little dry? Check out this display of eloquent venom (warning: language).
BEST OF ENEMIES Plays Hot Docs 2015 By: Ryan McNeil | April 30, 2015
http://www.thematinee.ca/hotdocs2015bestofenemies/ Sometimes the wildest ideas deliver the most lasting results. When time was approaching to cover the 1968 American presidential election primaries, ABC news was running a distant third in the ratings. In an effort to do something different, they pulled away from live goings-‐on every evening to allow two pundits to debate the issues on live television. Representing the American left, author Gore Vidal. Representing the American right, commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. The two men lobbed shots at the other side – and each other – for eight nights on live television, culminating in a fiery moment that will forever live in broadcasting infamy. What might be this film’s greatest show of prowess is the way you don’t have to know – or even care – about what these two men were debating. You don’t need to be an American history major or a political scientist to be drawn into the tale of two intelligent people trying to outdo one-‐another on national television. Further, it’s amazing to just listen to these guys talk about the issues of the day. Here in The Information Age, each of them would have to speak at double the volume and twice the pace to get a word in edgewise. Here though, their barbs and ideas – about the topics at-‐hand and about each-‐other’s character – are well-‐measured, well-‐spoken, and razor-‐sharp. It makes us realize that most of the personalities on our current 24-‐hour-‐news-‐ cycle are mopeds, where these two gentlemen were Ferraris. BEST OF ENEMIES isn’t just a love letter to a pair of 20th century intellectuals, rather it wants us, for a moment, to consider the very nature of an argument. Like someone yelling “FIGHT!” on a playground, there is something about a passionate argument that draws us in. We don’t intervene, we don’t even speak it aloud lest it come to a fast end like a pitcher throwing a no-‐hitter. Instead we crowd around, pass the popcorn, and watch the barbs fly. Is it because we are inspired by the passion of the opposing minds? Because we want someone to give a voice to a particular struggle we believe in? Or is it just because loves a good Donnybrook? What’s amazing to see from all these years later is the way these two men were never quite the same without each other after these two weeks in 1968. They kept at it for several years more, and both of them were tremendously successful in their own fields, but like enemy generals who still hear the thunder of guns in their ears, something about each these two men burrowed under the skin of the other and stayed there. Perish the thought that for a moment each thought the other might be right. I dare say, you wouldn’t even get them to agree on who won these debates. But if one thing is for sure, both Buckley Jr. and Vidal saw something in each-‐other that was rare and remained with them the rest of their days. If nothing else, when all was said and done, each saw the other as a worthy opponent. BEST OF ENEMIES has finished its Hot Docs engagement. Keep an eye on its official website for future showings.
Hot Docs “Best of Enemies By: Amir S. | April 27, 2015 http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2015/4/27/hot-‐docs-‐best-‐of-‐enemies.html It is hard to imagine today that there was once an America where political debates in the media were sensational, not just sensationalized. Harder yet is to envision a time when conservative political commentators weren’t complete buffoons, but rather eloquent, smart thinkers. That is exactly the time that Best of Enemies transports us to, Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville’s film about the televised debates leading up to the 1968 Republican and Democratic national conventions. ABC, then trailing as America’s third network and in search of a ratings boost, decided to pit two of the country’s most famous commentators against one another: the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. The two were known to dislike each other and their pairing on live TV was sure to cause a stir. Their prediction proved to be correct when on the 8th night of a series of incendiary discussions, Buckley reacted to Vidal’s name-‐calling and being labeled a “crypto-‐Nazi” with a momentary burst of anger... Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-‐ Nazi or I’ll sock you in the face and you’ll stay plastered.” Buckley regretted this lapse of judgment for the rest of his life and was haunted by memories of that night. Vidal, the more outrageous of the two characters, carried the memory with a triumphant smirk. Best of Enemies creates an energetically paced, consistently entertaining narrative out of these debates. It is formally trapped in the familiar structure of similar documentaries, with several talking head interviews that contextualize the significance of the debates and the ramifications of it for American TV and the two. Not all of these inserts seem necessary, though most of them – such as conversations with Buckley’s brother and TV executives who knew both commentators – are exciting. Still, the best parts of the films are excerpts from the original debates. The vicious and hilarious cat-‐fighting leaves one pining for that golden age of TV.
Top 10 Hot Docs to Lock Down
By: GLENN SUMI, NORMAN WILNER, SUSAN G. COLE | April 15, 2015 https://nowtoronto.com/movies/film-‐fests-‐and-‐screenings/true-‐stories-‐hot-‐docs-‐announces-‐its-‐2015-‐lineup-‐ and-‐its-‐/
BEST OF ENEMIES Nearly 50 years ago, everyone was watching the same TV programs at the same time, specifically the 10 fierce debates between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal during the 1968 republican and Democratic conventions. Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville look back on the characters, ideas and newfangled format that changed television forever. SGC April 24 and 26
Hot Docs 2015: What You Need To Know By: Kim | April 20, 2015
http://www.hmv.com/ca/video/hmv-‐hot-‐docs-‐festival-‐roundup-‐spotlight-‐highlights Best of Enemies: It could be argued that reality television started right here. This film chronicles the explosive real-‐life verbal fighting between left-‐wing pundit Gore Vidal and staunch conservative William F. Buckley Jr, who, in 1968, were hired by ABC to cover that year’s Republican and Democratic National Conventions. The gloves were off, and America (and later the world) was transfixed. Award-‐winning filmmakers Morgan Neville (Twenty Feet From Stardom) and Robert Gordon “chart the infamous origin of the trash-‐talk format of today’s TV news from this event.”
Hot Docs is Here By: Will Sloan | April 23, 2015
http://torontoist.com/2015/04/hot-‐docs-‐is-‐here/
Hot Docs, North America’s premiere festival of documentary cinema, begins tonight. We’ve rounded up some of the films we’re most anxious about watching. Best of Enemies Directed by Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville TIFF Bell Lightbox—Fri, Apr 24, 7:00 p.m.The struggling ABC network hoped for partisan fireworks when they hired ideological opposites Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley for a series of televised debates during the 1968 Democratic and GOP conventions. They got it: some 10 million people tuned in to watch Vidal call Buckley a “crypto-‐Nazi.” Buckley replied, “Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-‐Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face.” We look forward to the opportunity to revisit this classic moment and others.
Hot Docs: 10 films to check out at this year's documentary film festival By: Paul Hantiuk | April 22, 2015
http://www.postcity.com/Eat-‐Shop-‐Do/Do/April-‐2015/Hot-‐Docs-‐Preview/ “I mention the above ten out to stir your interest but you could easily find time for Love Between the Covers, about the women who really prop up the publishing industry, Missing People, about a woman who investigates the long unsolved murder of her brother in New Orleans, or Best of Enemies about William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal's on and off-‐screen feuds and how they changed news coverage. You could go on naming films for days...”
Mark Wigmore’s Top 10 for Hot Docs By: Mark Wigmore http://www.jazz.fm/index.php/component/content/article/11856 The documentarians are here! Thursday is opening day for The 2015 Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto. Over 2700 submissions have been whittled down to 210 and 45 countries will be represented. Senior Arts Editor Mark Wigmore has his top 10 picks : Here’s an in depth examination of two giant political pundit brains. It’s a thoughtful and humorous look at the legendary series of nationally televised debates between intellectual egomaniacs Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. Very entertaining.
All pictures taken by GAT during the festival are located here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97627695@N03/sets/721576522267 98430
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